Friday night
10 pm.
The call I've grown to expect hasn't arrived. My curiosity (or is it anxiety?) piqued, I ring.
"At my friend's place. Will call you in an hour".
Second evening in a row. I shouldn't jump to conclusions, however...
I decide not to wait. In any case, it's late, and I haven't had dinner yet. A quick googlechat confirms that Aniruddh is awake and game for a drive on ECR. To top it all, he invites me to eat at his place.
So I'm off to Tiruvanmiyur. Comfort food: rasam s'Adam, puLikAchchal, javarisi vaDAm, yoghurt. What more does one need?
In the car, I turn on the shruti CD. We head south.
Aniruddh sings a lovely periAlwAr piece in nATa pallANDu pallANDu.
Next it's kAnada, with yenna solli azhaitthAl varuvAyO. Quite appropriate, I think to myself. I follow up with vIra hanumatE naMO namah.
By this time we've passed VGP and are approaching the toll gate before Mahabalipuram. I turn left into some Nagar or other. Fortunately the street takes us directly to the beach. Parking inches from where road meets sand, we lower the windows. Rich tones of the tambura recording slice through the still air. We then sing kalyANI. E tAvunarA is a song I haven't sung or played in a long time. Following this, it's mangaLa dEvatE in mArgadEs'I.
We see four men approaching in the rear view mirror. I hastily roll up the windows and lock the doors. It's 12.30 am. One never knows. But it's only a group of friends out for a walk. I feel rather ashamed.
It's time to head back. bRndAvana sAranga and svAminAthEna samrakShitO'ham suggest themselves, as I U-turn back north. D (2 kaTTai) shruti being a tad high for my voice, I explore the lower octave, and the notes of amRtavarShiNI blend nicely with the kAkali niShAda and antara gAndhAra overtones of the tambura. tAna, then AnandAmRtAkarShiNI.
Tiruvanmiyur is here. Dropping Aniruddh at his place, I head home.
The promised call has not arrived. At this point, it doesn't appear quite as upsetting.
I light a votive candle and place it in the aromatherapy candle holder. Ylang-ylang suffuses the room and envelops me in a heady calmness.
I sleep, soothed.
The call I've grown to expect hasn't arrived. My curiosity (or is it anxiety?) piqued, I ring.
"At my friend's place. Will call you in an hour".
Second evening in a row. I shouldn't jump to conclusions, however...
I decide not to wait. In any case, it's late, and I haven't had dinner yet. A quick googlechat confirms that Aniruddh is awake and game for a drive on ECR. To top it all, he invites me to eat at his place.
So I'm off to Tiruvanmiyur. Comfort food: rasam s'Adam, puLikAchchal, javarisi vaDAm, yoghurt. What more does one need?
In the car, I turn on the shruti CD. We head south.
Aniruddh sings a lovely periAlwAr piece in nATa pallANDu pallANDu.
Next it's kAnada, with yenna solli azhaitthAl varuvAyO. Quite appropriate, I think to myself. I follow up with vIra hanumatE naMO namah.
By this time we've passed VGP and are approaching the toll gate before Mahabalipuram. I turn left into some Nagar or other. Fortunately the street takes us directly to the beach. Parking inches from where road meets sand, we lower the windows. Rich tones of the tambura recording slice through the still air. We then sing kalyANI. E tAvunarA is a song I haven't sung or played in a long time. Following this, it's mangaLa dEvatE in mArgadEs'I.
We see four men approaching in the rear view mirror. I hastily roll up the windows and lock the doors. It's 12.30 am. One never knows. But it's only a group of friends out for a walk. I feel rather ashamed.
It's time to head back. bRndAvana sAranga and svAminAthEna samrakShitO'ham suggest themselves, as I U-turn back north. D (2 kaTTai) shruti being a tad high for my voice, I explore the lower octave, and the notes of amRtavarShiNI blend nicely with the kAkali niShAda and antara gAndhAra overtones of the tambura. tAna, then AnandAmRtAkarShiNI.
Tiruvanmiyur is here. Dropping Aniruddh at his place, I head home.
The promised call has not arrived. At this point, it doesn't appear quite as upsetting.
I light a votive candle and place it in the aromatherapy candle holder. Ylang-ylang suffuses the room and envelops me in a heady calmness.
I sleep, soothed.
posted by L. Ramakrishnan at 1:26 AM
2 Comments:
Read your blog after a pretty long break. Loved this post (and all posts related to music too). Your writing on music makes me feel absolutely inadequate - wish I really had learnt music (or could learn now)!
ahem ahem:)
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